


Amid the Shaded Glades

by TheSpectralDuke



Series: Reinette and Rhel'to [6]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Biting, Breastfeeding, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Face-Sitting, Groping, Lemon, Meet the Family, NSFW, Not Beta Read, Outdoor Sex, Porn with Feelings, Rough Sex, Some pretty fierce Gridania hate NGL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:49:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28828452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpectralDuke/pseuds/TheSpectralDuke
Summary: As they at last begin their travels across Hydaelyn, Rhel'to takes Reinette to meet his family in the Black Shroud. But his sister Masha has naught but scorn to offer, until her own lover leads her to see matters from a different angle.
Relationships: Original Character/Original Character
Series: Reinette and Rhel'to [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2045083
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Amid the Shaded Glades

**Author's Note:**

> This one comes with a side of not enough sleep so I apologise for any big errors or thematic weirdness.
> 
> Big thanks to all the lovely folks at the Book Club for loving the preview snips of smut from this one. If you want to come join a welcoming, enabling group of FFXIV fanfic nerds, follow the link and follow Emet's instructions to get started: https://discord.gg/JQw5J4mVNm

Spring had come to the Black Shroud.

As Reinette and Rhel'to walked, the elezen drank in the forest's splendor. Every tree hung with green shoots almost ready to blossom, the air still chilly with winter's last grip, the sky overhead dotted with clouds with oranges and purples beginning to creep across the heavens. When she glanced back through the trees Quarrymill was out of sight, hidden by a thick veil of trees with no path left behind them. But Rhel'to walked more confidently than she had ever seen him, weaving through the forest like he could have done it blindfolded.

Every step of the way Reinette found something new to turn her head, she felt. Cloudkin swooped through the boughs, diving through shafts of light between the pools of gloom. Vilekin of all sorts moved between the trees, buzzing, hissing, some of them enough to give Rhel'to pause until they moved on. She wanted to take out her sketchbook and just wander the groves drawing the wonderful new life, but there would be another time for that. After all, no longer were they bound by time, by responsibilities, bitter as their loss was in some ways.

The thought made her remember the day they departed Ishgard. Stephanivien and Hilda both had come to see them off along with a small group of well-wishers, shoving last minute gifts into their hands, wishing the pair the best. Mayhap she should have felt more guilt about leaving, but her dreams coming true before her eyes had left her more elated than any day since she and Rhel'to had confessed their feelings to one another. Finally they were on the road, enough gil saved to begin their trip, but they both had one last matter to tend to before they went wherever the wind took them. So it was that they walked the woods Rhel'to had spent his childhood in, following the trails he knew so well even years later.

“It's beautiful,” Reinette said aloud as they ducked through a thicket of vines and trees. Disturbed cloudkin scattered in a flurry of wingbeats and shed feathers, leaves rustling in their wake.

Rhel'to smiled back at her, wearing his waistcoat and trousers even in the Shroud. Despite the keeper's comfort with his childhood haunts, he seemed _strange_ there in the Ishgardian garb. “I promise you'll get to sketch to your heart's content, love.”

“Your family comes first,” she grinned, following him across a bubbling stream. They hopped from rock to rock, Reinette giggling when she slipped enough for her foot to brush water. She still wore the garb of a machinist, auburn hair dancing with each jump. “I can't wait to meet them.”

“I'm sure they'll love you,” the keeper grinned back. Mayhap he seemed a little hesitant, but Reinette paid it no mind as she followed him through a glade of vibrant flowers. Reds and purples, yellows and blues all dotted the ground around them, petals caressing her legs in passing.

“Are there any plants here I need to worry about?” she asked. She tried to smile, but the memory of that strange bulb in the Dravanian Forelands left her mouth just slightly curved up. Rhel'to's expression was much the same, frozen halfway between neutral and grin, before tipping to the latter.

“The ones that walk,” he finally said as he held a branch back for her to pass.

Reinette looked at him curiously. “Walk?”

Rhel'to nodded. “There are trees that walk here in the Shroud,” he said, stopping a moment to scan the trees ahead. He found his bearings and continued. “Some of them will just leave you be, but others... others you can only run from or die.” He was silent a while again, leading her onward on a path only he could see.

“It must have been hard trying to survive on your own,” she murmured.

He paused, tail slowly coiling. “I was lucky,” he said just as quietly, voice melancholy. “I ended up in Ishgard. I found you.” When he looked at Reinette he smiled, eyes so bright with love that her heart fluttered. They closed together, his tail gently stroking her thigh as they shared a kiss, then hand in hand they continued on. More life teemed around them, one of the walking trees he had talked about glimpsed some way off, squirrels skittering through the branches overhead, but now the trees began to thin out and the ground underfoot grew stony.

A cave entrance loomed ahead beneath the boughs as the forest thinned, the sight of it bringing a grin to Rhel'to's lips. Reinette knew how he must have felt, because she was sure she'd worn the same smile every time she stepped into the lodgings and found him waiting for her. It was the joy of coming _home_.

Rhel'to stopped short of breaking the last few trees, glancing about.

“What is it, love?” Reinette asked softly, feeling his fingers tighten in hers.

“Someone watching,” he murmured back, scanning the trees.

Leaves rustled to the side and they whirled to find another miqo'te emerging from the brush. She resembled Rhel'to to an extent, close enough to surely be family, her eyes the same green beneath a curtain of hair, her nose the same and her skin equally gray. But her hair was a lighter wooden hue than his walnut, her face painted with white stripes whose meaning Reinette didn't know. She wore a plain brown tunic and dark leather breeches, a spear in her hand coming to rest on her shoulder as she stepped forward. Her tail swished menacingly behind her as her eyes regarded the two, faintly warm as they rested on Rhel'to then suddenly cold as winter upon finding Reinette.

“Masha,” Rhel'to smiled.

“Rhel'to?” His sister looked him up and down. “I almost didn't recognize you in those clothes. I see Ishgard's treated you well.” But swiftly her eyes were back on Reinette, cold and fierce like a hawk's. “And who is this?”

“Masha, this is Reinette,” he said. “And Reinette, my sister Masha.”

Masha just _stared_ and Reinette felt her scorn like a physical force, almost fierce enough to make her step back. “A wildwood?”

Rhel'to bristled, fingers tightening on Reinette's, his eyes suddenly just as fierce as his sister's. “Of Ishgard,” he said, voice low.

“As though that makes matter,” Masha said cold and plain. Even with her spear at rest Reinette felt uneasy, unsure what about her kind put the keeper so on edge. “I can see how you twine your hand with hers, Rhel'to. Don't think me _blind_.”

More leaves rustled and the three turned to find another keeper, this one plainly older than either Rhel'to or Masha. She had the latter's hair tied in a tail, her eyes a deep reddish-brown neither possessed and intricate markings drawn in deep green over the gray skin both her children had clearly inherited. Any thought she was any less a huntress than her daughter were dismissed by how her dress adorned a lithe, muscular frame, her bare arms strong and scarred. Her ears flicked as she gazed from Masha to Rhel'to and then to Reinette, falling back to her son.

“Rhel'to!” Rhel smiled after a moment, rushing through the undergrowth to tackle him in a hug. He kept his grip on Reinette's hand, his other resting in the back of his mother's dress to hug her back. Beaming, the brown-eyed keeper drew back, turning her gaze to Reinette.

Rhel'to fidgeted a moment, head bowing. “Ah, mother, this is Reinette. And Reinette, this is my mother, Rhel.” Rhel stared a while, probably expecting Reinette to ask about their names, but Rhel'to had explained that aspect of keeper culture to her as well as talking about his family.

“Good to meet you, Reinette,” Rhel said. “Menphina bless you.” Her gaze lingered on Reinette and Rhel'to's hands as Masha's had, doubtless reading what it meant that their fingers stayed twined. Her smile slipped just a little before she turned away. “Are you going to stay there gawping or invite your brother and his... guest in, Masha?”

Masha's eyes gleamed sharply, but she turned to follow her mother through the trees toward the cave entrance. She looked back over her shoulder as they went. “What brings you back, Rhel'to? You've missed quite a lot off in Ishgard.”

“Though I hear you've been close to history in the making,” Rhel interjected. “The end of the Dragonsong War, the Warrior of Light right there with you...”

“You heard about all of that?” Reinette asked before she could stop herself, flinching back as both green and brown eyes fell on her.

“Of course, Reinette,” Rhel'to's mother said, chuckling. “We're not completely blind to the world outside the Shroud, not with the damn Garleans threatening us and primals constantly on the rampage, it seems. Though we've been quite fortunate in our little corner of the realm, Menphina be praised.”

“If only we could say the same for you, brother,” Masha murmured as they entered the cave. Reinette looked around, taking in the marks of tools on the walls. She was sure the cavern had started as natural, but it had been expanded by man, delving deeper into the rock and smoothing out stone underfoot. Little lanterns glowed from alcoves, casting just enough light for her to see the path ahead as they descended into the earth. Mushrooms grew in corners along the path, other caves soon beginning to branch out like rooms splitting off a corridor. A bedroom here with furs strewn on the floor, a storeroom with meat hung up next, a few more before the passage widened into a great room. The tool marks in the walls were unmistakable and she wondered if the keepers of the moon had created this haven in times past or just taken over an existing Gelmorran dwelling.

The elezen gazed around the great room, a fire burning warmly at its heart. A table sat near it with six chairs arrayed all around, furs scattered over the floor and a cut of meat on a spit over the flame. Another of Rhel'to's sisters tended the meal, her eyes catching the firelight enough that Reinette couldn't tell what color they were but her hair the same walnut as Rhel'to's. Her clothes were light, a plain shirt that bared her midriff and a rather short skirt exposing her milky legs from the knees down. The sight of Rhel'to made her grin wide.

“Rhel'to! You should have written to say you were coming!” she cried, abandoning her post to tackle him in a hug. Masha immediately made to replace her, seeming quite glad for the distraction as she examined the joint on its spit.

“Sorry, Qina,” Rhel'to replied gently, hugging his sister back gingerly but smiling more than Reinette had seen with anyone other than her. The sight of him so joyful warmed her heart even as she turned her gaze over to where the last of his sisters sat atop some furs, legs to the side and arms cradling a blanket-wrapped baby to her breast. Unfazed by the visitors Kehda fed her child even as she gave her brother a smile, her hair and eyes the same hue as her mother's, the tail rested atop her white leggings the same light wooden hue. Her shirt hung open to let her kit suckle and Reinette blushed, looking away politely.

“Did you find yourself a _civilised_ girl, Rhel'to?” Kehda purred as she made to stand, Reinette glancing to see the keeper's belly still swollen. The child couldn't have been more than a few moons old.

Rhel'to slipped out of Qina's tight embrace, rubbing at his ear nervously. “Well-”

“Don't even try to deny it, boy.” Reinette jumped as the voice croaked from a dark corner, whirling to find a rocking chair slowly moving back and forth. The woman sat in it may have worn her age well but it was undeniable that she was old, hair and fur faded to gray with only the slightest traces of brown left, teeth worn by years of eating when she opened her mouth to cackle at Rhel'to's sheepish look. “Even from over there the pair of you _reek_ of one another. Now put your grandmother out of her misery, have you come back to tell me that you've had a happy _accident_ like Kehda, or did you just decide mayhap you ought to let your family know you hadn't gotten yourself killed in all the excitement we hear's gone on in Ishgard?”

“No, neither!” Rhel'to gasped, blushing fiercely. Reinette felt heat burning in her own cheeks at his grandmother's rather blunt interrogation. “I, um, we-”

The old woman cackled again, resting her eyes on Reinette. “You, do you speak more than my grandson does? Wherever did he find you?”

Reinette gathered herself, feeling all their eyes on her. Kehda and Qina earnestly curious, Rhel warm but reserved, the old lady just staring with a wicked smirk on her lips, and Masha peeking from beneath her hair with eyes like ice. “My name is Reinette Snowsfall,” she said, keeping her voice strong. “Rhel'to and I met in Ishgard, and now we mean to travel the world.” She tightened her grip on Rhel'to's hand and pulled it forward, seeing their gazes fall to it. The gesture's meaning was clear, undoubtedly, making them silent a while as they digested it.

“Together,” Masha said at last, gaze wandering to Rhel'to then landing back on Reinette as cold as winter in Coerthas.

“Together,” Reinette replied firmly, sensing a challenge even if she didn't understand the keeper's ire. Masha opened her mouth to respond, baring her fangs with her expression hard as the stone around them.

“Masha,” Rhel said, voice low and dangerous.

“No, mother,” Masha replied just as menacingly. “You're all thinking it, even you, Qina.” Rhel'to's youngest sister pouted and glared at her senior, but Masha had eyes only for her brother and Reinette. “Our brother, partnering himself up with a _knife-eared_ wench-”

Rhel'to moved more furiously than Reinette thought she'd ever seen. Only that day he'd saved her from the vundu came close, his ears suddenly flat to his scalp, tail rigid and his fingers uncomfortably tight. His lips drew back furiously, baring his fangs as Masha met his challenge across the room. Everyone else was silent.

“Apologize,” Rhel'to growled, quiet but firm.

“After all her kind have done,” Masha retorted. “After the years the Wailers have spent hunting us like animals, after all our kind they've driven into cells or into the arms of the Coeurlclaw, treating us like common criminals, you would _lay_ with _her sort_?!”

Rhel'to shivered with anger and Reinette felt a pang of _fear_. She had never seen him so angry, barely seen him angry at all, save brief flashes whenever her family were brought up. He glared at his sister livid with rage. “Rhel'to,” she whispered, feeling his grip soften, but his glare at Masha didn't relent. The elezen took a step forward to stand beside him and his eyes turned to her, wide with surprise.

“Masha,” Kehda said. “Don't-”

Masha shot her sister an acidic look. “Is this all it takes? Our brother walking in with a wildwood woman on his arm and all is forgiven?”

“Of course not,” her sister snapped back, gently rocking her baby as the harsh words made it stir. “But Reinette is of Ishgard, _not Gridania_ , sister. If you would hate her regardless then mayhap you've spent too long with Yehn'a.”

The huntress grit her teeth with fangs bared, turning the meat on its spit before stalking away to a dark corner. A spear stood propped against the wall and she snatched it up, whirling around to face the room. Her eyes found the corner with the rocking chair. “What about you, grandmother?”

“Are you going to stamp your foot if I tell you Kehda is right?” Rhel'to's grandmother replied mockingly. “Oh, Masha, you're acting like a spoiled kit. Go hunt something at least. If dear Reinette means to stay a while, we shall need the meat.”

“Go, Masha,” Rhel snapped before Masha could muster a reply. “I shan't have you treating a guest so, let alone Rhel'to's mate.” The words echoed in Reinette's ears, making her shiver even as Masha stalked out past them, coldly seething. Rhel'to's _mate_? It thrilled her somehow, like an acknowledgment she hadn't known she wanted.

“Forgive my sister,” Kehda said as she took a seat at the table, slowly rocking her kit back and forth. “She's been keeping poor company of late.”

“Yehn'a,” Rhel'to murmured.

“I don't know what in the hells she sees in him,” Rhel hissed with a shake of her head. “He's naught but trouble.” A sigh passed her lips and her shoulders slumped. “But forgive me too, Reinette. You are a guest, and all we've offered you are questions and accusations. Come, have a seat. I'd love to hear how you and my boy met.”

“And all the sordid details you have to offer,” Rhel'to's grandmother cackled from her corner. “You never did say whether you were with kit, Reinette dear.”

Reinette blushed furiously. “N-no, I'm not.” At least, she didn't _think_ she was, but everything she had read on the subject made her believe that the chance of her bearing Rhel'to's child was unbelievably slim. Not _impossible_ , there were records of mixed-race children as far away as the far east, but not one of an elezen-miqo'te child. Much as thinking about it made her _want_ to bear his child, it would take a miracle.

“Shame,” the old woman croaked. “I was hoping to have another bee for Masha's bonnet when she gets back.”

Rhel fixed her with a look. “You are _wicked_ , mother.”

“I've earned the right, I should hope,” Miah sniffed. “I had to suffer raising _you_ with not a whit of help from your father.” Her gaze turned back to Reinette. “We haven't convinced you to run back to Ishgard, girl?”

Reinette let herself smile and shake her head. “No.”

“Good,” Rhel'to's mother smiled in turn. “Now, I believe there's one more introduction to be done, Kehda.”

The young mother started, glancing down at her baby. “Oh, forgive me, Rhel'to, Masha-”

Rhel'to shook his head. “Don't worry, I understand. Masha had us all on edge.” He led Reinette closer to the fire, slipping into the seat beside his sister and admiring the baby in her arms tenderly.

“This is uncle Rhel'to, Lhei,” Kehda crooned. “Rhel'to, Reinette, this is Lhei.” A girl, Reinette mused, remembering what Rhel'to had said about keeper of the moon names. Rhel'to admired his niece with a warm giddy grin, so tender and loving that Reinette felt she might melt with delight. Masha's anger suddenly seemed a distant shadow, obliterated by the warmth of the fire and the joy surrounding them.

“Who's her father?” Rhel'to asked, gently stroking Lhei's black-furred ear until the baby purred in her mother's arms.

“Khona'to,” his sister murmured, recognition crossing Rhel'to's face. “Not a surprise, I suppose.”

Rhel'to chuckled. “It always seemed like Menphina meant him to be yours.”

Kehda nodded with that warm smile, looking up at Reinette. “Mayhap you found the one she meant for you, brother.”

Reinette felt her cheeks burn again, the warmth pleasant. She hadn't been too sure what to expect from Rhel'to's family even with his assurances, not after her own family had cast her out for loving him. The whole way into the Shroud she'd worried that another rejection awaited, that Rhel'to too would be exiled, so to find all but Masha accepting was a surprise so pleasant she almost couldn't believe it the truth. “Thank you,” she managed at last.

“Come on, then,” Qina teased, slipping into a chair on her sister's other side. “Start from the beginning and tell us the whole story! Like grandma said, _all_ the sordid details!” She giggled like a little girl, mischief dancing in her eyes as her grandmother cackled from her chair.

Rhel shot them both a disapproving look. “That's enough mockery, both of you. I'm sure Reinette didn't come all this way to be made fun of, _mother_.”

“I should hope her skin can handle a light teasing, Menphina forbid,” her mother laughed. “Now then, boy, how by the Twelve did you win the heart of such a fine lady?”

Reinette shared a look with her lover, smiles crossing their lips.

“It started in the Sea of Clouds...”

R&R

Menphina's gaze was on Masha's back as she prowled through grove and glade, spear in hand, footfalls so perfectly close to silent. In her dark leather and cloth she was all but invisible amid the shadows, ears up and alert for the sound of prey. She hoped to catch a deer at least, one plump enough to feed them all a few days.

Even Rhel'to's _consort_ , she thought icily as she slipped through a veil of leaves. A few rustled in her passing but she continued on her way, eyes cast down. Hoofprints in soft soil drew her gaze and Masha let her fangs catch the moonlight as she smiled, crouching low to follow the tracks. Her tail swayed gently as the keeper advanced, spear up and ready, ears at their peak. This was where she belonged, more than anything. A trail to follow, spear in hand, Menphina's light bathing her. White paint adorned her face in the goddess's name, just as mother had taught her when she was just a girl. When it was just her and mother, though even then father's seed grew in mother's womb, she mused. A seed that would grow sickly and frail, too much so to live.

Rhel'a gone before any of them knew him.

The trail faded as it found harder ground and Masha sniffed for a scent to help her find it again. She found that of a deer, yes, but also a musky scent that excited and infuriated her both.

“Yehn'a,” she breathed low, grass green eyes scanning the trees around her. A shadow pulled away from a trunk, stepping into the moon's glow. Skin black, hair and fur the relatively lighter hue of gray iron, a dark green tunic and brown breeches on his lithe body. The other keeper smirked at her, dusky orange eyes gleaming in the moonlight beneath a messy mane and the blood red claws painted across his face.

“Masha,” Yehn'a purred. “The night was already going so well and now you've come to complete it.”

Masha shook her head. “I'm in no mood for your flirting tonight. I was just tracking a deer but the trail's cold.”

He gave her a smile that tried to be apologetic but fell flat. “That might be the deer I just found in my trap.”

“Hells take you,” she hissed. “ _Still_ trapping, Yehn'a? The Wailers-”

“Can wail to their heart's content,” Yehn'a sighed with a shrug. “Not all of us are so blessed by Menphina as you, Masha.” He prowled closer and she stiffened, feeling his gaze on her body. “How goes the hunt?”

“Spoiled, thanks to you,” she retorted, pointedly stepping away as he reached for her hip. Yehn'a smirked.

“Let me make it up to you,” he crooned. “Would half the deer be enough?”

“It's a start,” Masha muttered, gazing around the glade. Grass rustled in the breeze around their legs.

Yehn'a sighed, eyes brushing over her face. “There's something else on your mind.”

“It's nothing to do with you.” She made to turn away, spear lowering in preparation to run, but his fingers came to rest on her shoulder.

“Leaving already?” the orange-eyed keeper breathed. He drew closer and Masha tensed, breathing his scent so keenly.

“Rhel'to came home,” she said with a glance. “I need to make sure we have enough food for him and his...” Fangs rested on her lip as she bit back cold words, their points close to drawing blood as the bitter feelings reared like serpents. He drew closer, breath warm on her neck as his hands sank to her hips.

“His?”

“ _Lover_ ,” she chose after a pregnant pause. “Some wildwood woman he met in Ishgard.”

Yehn'a drew in a sharp breath. “That brother of yours,” he chuckled.

“You think it _funny_?” Masha spat, turning her head enough to glare with one eye at him. “After everything her kind have done! After Amh! After years of the Wailers looking for the slightest excuse to clap us in irons, he sees fit to _bed_ one of their sort.”

“That's his choice,” the black-skinned man murmured. “Oh, Masha, here I thought you so aloof. As unreachable as Menphina Herself.”

“Don't mock me,” she hissed with narrowed eyes.

“I would never,” he teased, lips brushing her nape. Masha froze at the touch even as one hand crept around her hip, stroking his fingertips over her toned thigh.

“Yehn'a,” she growled softly.

“How long has it been?” the other keeper purred just as low. “A moon? More? I offer to share my hunt with you-”

“Am I a _wench_ to be bought?” Masha hissed, rising to his bait with fire in her blood. She whirled enough to toss his hands off of her, face to face with Yehn'a and glaring right into those orange eyes. But his smirk didn't dim at all.

“Never,” he said. “I would never presume I could buy you, Masha. You're much too wonderful for that, so wild, so pure, so _free_.” He dared to rest his hands on her again even as she seethed with her tail rigid and her ears flat to her scalp, baring her fangs as she turned his words over. “Do you want to forget a while? Put Rhel'to and this wildwood wench he's found out of your mind?”

Shame and anger pricked her but Masha couldn't deny that she did. She'd long since abandoned any notion that Yehn'a was just a fling, just a man she'd bedded to soothe the need between her thighs when her fingers weren't enough. He knew he'd won, of course he did, eyes gleaming with victory as he bared his own fangs just a little.

“I would share more with you, if you'd let me,” he continued, one hand rising as the other fell. He stroked the back of his fingers over her belly, each breath wafting hot over her face. “My hunt, my company,” his hand stopped right over her bellybutton, “my _kits_ -” Masha silenced him by pressing her mouth to his as hard as she could, relishing the way he froze in shock. The kiss was hot and fierce, passionate and needy, scouring everything from her mind but raw need left unanswered too long. They tumbled down into the grass with hands clawing at clothes, giving in immediately to their desire. Rhel'to and Reinette were seared from her mind as she drowned herself in his taste, scent and touch.

“Stop flattering me,” she growled huskily. “I want you to act, not talk.”

“As you wish,” he smirked. Black skin met gray as they kissed again, tongues dancing, moans shaking their throats while she pinned him between her swaying hips and the unyielding ground. Masha could feel him hardening beneath her just as she felt her sex burn with a damp heat, moaning when Yehn'a dug his fingers into her rump hard. She abandoned his mouth to seize his neck, suckling just a moment before her ministration turned rough. Fangs scraped flesh and he groaned her name, continuing to grope as Masha rode his rising member.

She hadn't realized quite how keenly she wanted to fuck him until they began.

Yehn'a's free hand tugged at her tunic and Masha drew away, admiring her handiwork best as she could in the gloomy moonlight before her own hands took up his task. The cold night bit at her skin as the tunic tugged over her head and was tossed aside, only a black band hiding her chest from him. She hadn't expected that to last long, so when he yanked the whole thing down to let her breasts pop free she wasn't surprised at all.

“By Menphina,” he purred as he cupped them, thumbs finding her nipples and oh so _gently_ rubbing. His touch was suddenly light, teasing, like feathers stroked over her nubs until she felt ready to go mad with want, but it felt far too _good_ for her to protest. She would hardly give him the satisfaction either, not when those orange irises watched so keenly for a sign of that victory. Instead she gave him a smirk and bucked her hips into his, his surprised moan music to her ears. “Oh, Masha, you _divine_ vixen-” Tired of the gentle play Masha pulled him into her cleavage and felt him go wild. Immediately his mouth was on her, suckling hard on the sensitive skin until she whined, his fangs brushing just short of leaving their marks.

“Yehn'a...” His hardness pressed on her slit now even with their breeches and smalls still between, digging in every time she rocked into him. Yehn'a's hands brushed up and down her back in hard strokes with his nails tracing his path either side of her spine, his lips, teeth and tongue doing their own bit to mark her on the other side of her torso.

“How I missed making love to you,” he breathed over her heart, hovering his mouth over a half-hard nipple. Despite the cold air of a winter not yet gone Masha felt nothing but warm, the heat between her legs and the warmth of his body on hers enough to drive the chill back. “If only I could fill you every _single_ night...” Before she could force him back to her chest, Yehn'a dived in and took the nipple between his teeth. Masha moaned at the feel of his tongue on its tip, her other breast tended roughly by one hand. He was without mercy now, fingers kneading hard enough to leave their dents behind, thumb circling her other nipple with such wonderful unbearable friction. Masha shivered with pleasure more than cold, riding him as he drowned her in raw ecstasy. His free hand came between their chests to dance over her breeches, the gray-skinned keeper lifting herself on her knees in response.

“Touch me,” she crooned sharply. “By Menphina _touch me_.” Yehn'a's hand cupped her sex, rubbing her through her clothes while she bucked her hips in answer, seeking the little sparks his touch ignited, chasing brief levinbolts when his thumb traced the line of her lips. She felt sodden to the very core, burning hot as the iron-furred keeper suckled and nipped, kneaded and pinched. He dug his fangs into titflesh, holding just before they drew her blood, orange eyes opening just to gauge her reaction. She opened her mouth to spur him with words, but Yehn'a pressed his thumb into her slit sudden and hard enough to punch the wind from her lungs, rubbing it there until a moan shook her body. “Bastard!” she spat right in his ear, even that word wavering atop the waves of desire and heat seething in her veins.

“I seek to please,” he teased, letting her go to admire his handiwork. His hands tugged his shirt up, up, laying bare more black skin over lithe muscle, scar after scar like his biography carved in his body. Most were the work of fang and claw but a few spoke of knives, arrows and spears, the work of Wailers, the Coeurlclaw and more. Masha reached out to brush her fingers on them, tracing their shapes and guessing at how he had earned each. A boar's tusk here, a vilekin's stinger there. He smirked as he basked in her touch before lunging back into her chest. Hand and mouth switched sides from before, the former on a breast stained in spittle and fang marks, the latter covering the imprint of fingers with his lips. Clumsily his other hand began to unlace her breeches and she let him struggle, smirking into his hair as she scraped her tongue up his ear.

“Harder,” Masha breathed. Yehn'a kept his pace a moment as though to test her patience, one eye glancing up at her face with mischief in its depths, but the close of her teeth on his ear's tip made him yelp and then quicken. Fangs bit hard on her breast and Masha wailed, levinbolts dancing out from where the points pierced skin. Despite the stab of pain the pleasure that followed was greater, even more so when he unlaced her enough to slip a hand in her breeches and rub through her smalls. “Oh, Yehn'a, _fuck_!”

He purred with delight. “That's it,” he crooned, stroking his tongue over her pebbled nipple as a finger teased her sodden shorts. “Oh, _perfect_.” He nipped at her skin while his finger quested up her slit, curling until his knuckle grazed her clit. Masha mewled and like a predator he lunged for the opening, pressing harder, rubbing up and down until she cried his name for the night to hear.

“Menphina!” the brown-haired keeper cried, ablaze, incandescent.

“She's watching,” Yehn'a purred, climbing her breast with his mouth until he pressed hard kisses into the hollow of her throat. “Every time we do this she's watched us, Masha, and I bet the sight fills her with such _envy_. Seeing you so _full_ with my cock, my _seed_ -” Fangs scraped in time with his knuckle against her sex and Masha wailed again, bucking against him in search of greater pleasure. The blasphemy he spoke only excited her more, his breath so hot on her neck in between kisses and nips. She wanted more, _needed_ more, and so reluctantly she tugged away and dismounted him.

“Gods,” she panted as she stood, finding her skin slick with sweat already in a bizarre contrast to how her breath poured as mist. Trembling fingers reached for her breeches and worked both them and her shorts down in one go, making Yehn'a freeze where he had been reaching up for her. Masha shucked off her boots in a rush to leave herself utterly bare beneath the moonlight, the cold such a distant worry with how hot she blazed. A smirk crept over her lips at the sight of Yehn'a shamelessly ogling her whole body, orange eyes slowly descending from her marked breasts down her belly, crossing her bush to gaze openly at her drenched sex. His hand fell to tented breeches, rubbing his cock until he groaned and his tail lashed excitedly in the grass.

Masha pounced again, tackling him back down into the dirt, kissing him hard and shoving her tongue right down his mouth. Yehn'a moaned into her as she straddled him and pressed her slit right on his bulge, their hips crashing hard again and again in a fierce dry rut, his nails keen on her back. They scraped down as Masha climbed him, sure he was shucking off his own clothes behind her as she let him tend her breasts a moment before continuing up. Yehn'a lay flat as her hips passed his shoulders and came to rest over his face, his breath washing over her sensitive folds and teasing out a whine from her throat.

“Oh, Masha,” he murmured in a husky voice. “For me?”

“I want that tongue _in me_ , not purring more flattery,” she hissed as she pressed down on his face. Immediately he set to work while she rose, letting his head take her weight with her thighs brushing each of his ears. His tongue was merciless, his lips devouring her folds and slick so hungrily she would have sworn he was famished. The iron-furred keeper sought her every sensitive spot without fail, tongue swirling and scraping until she panted and wailed to the moon above. Masha groped her breasts with one hand, hard and desperate touches that punched the breath from her lungs, the other hand playing in his hair and equally rough on his ears. She felt his arm moving and glanced back to find a hand wrapped around his shaft, thumb stroking on his drenched red head while he groaned right into her core. Deeper and deeper he delved, sucking on her petals then rubbing his tongue on her clit until she screamed with nerves ablaze.

Masha rode his face desperately, legs parting as far as she could manage, shins scraping in the dirt as she shuddered at each suckle and lick. Yehn'a seized her nub between his lips and sucked _hard_ , once, twice, a third time until stars crossed her eyes and she threw her head back to scream loud as she could. Her own voice rang in her ears over the frantic beat of her heart, her lover's hands caressing a thigh and seeking the base of her tail. Masha tried to gather herself but she was nowhere close when Yehn'a's thumb found her tailbone, rubbing hard circles on her to take her to pieces once again with another hard suck on her clit drowning her in ecstasy. She was overwhelmed, tail whipping his chest unconsciously, breast heaving in between wails as he pleasured her without relent, her hand just as relentless on his ears until he groaned in agonized joy.

She was boneless and delirious when Yehn'a's hands took her hips and tugged, toppling her off his face down into the dirt. Masha scrambled to meet him as he crawled up her body, his kisses on her skin fierce and fleeting. He took her lips hard and poured her own taste into her mouth on his tongue, her own accepting the nectar he offered gratefully while she felt his cock seek its mark.

“Want you,” Yehn'a panted. “Oh, how I want you...”

“Take me,” Masha answered, just as breathless. His orange eyes sparked with want before another fierce kiss had both their eyes shut, his hands on her legs to part her as far as she could go. Her own hands crept up his sides like spiders to his back, brushing grass and mud off him with their strokes before gripping tight with anticipation. She had only a second as Yehn'a lined up, so pent and her sex so sodden that he thrust all the way into her without delay. The sudden fullness knocked the air from her lungs, her eyes watering and her throat gasping, even the familiar feeling of his cock snug inside her utterly overwhelming when he took her so swiftly.

Words seemed lost to the iron-furred man as he buried his face in her throat, breathing heavily with every hard thrust. What he lacked in length he more than made up for in girth, his length tight to her walls on every side as he took her to the hilt again and again. Their hips crashed in a ferocious rhythm when Masha reciprocated, letting her head tip back onto the grass, legs coiling around his rump as she sought to embrace him with her all in the throes of passion. His hands clawed in the dirt and grass as he rutted her hard as he could, groaning and growling into her neck, teeth and fangs scraping as he pressed his mouth hard to her skin. Despite the cold they _burned_ , hips slapping hard, his cock soon ramming into her spot as the lovers joined in earnest. Masha lifted her head as best she could in her throes, kissing, licking and suckling at his ear while he poured love and desire alike on her skin, so close to marking her, so close to claiming her but always stopping short without her assent.

How she longed to give it, deep down, to have more than moonlit trysts for fear of what mother and grandmother would say. If men were trouble, then Yehn'a was an ill omen incarnate to their eyes, too rebellious, too daring, and yet here she was making love with him in Menphina's gaze. Masha came undone with him inside her, thoughts straying beyond the bounds of family and tradition, daring to imagine a kit with his eyes and her hair, his hair and her eyes, either way held to her breast with him there smirking his stupid smirk. A thrust right to her spot tore the image from her mind and replaced it with animal passion, feral desire, her nails digging in until pain strained his voice and his fangs answered by grazing her throat. Hotter and hotter they burned, so gloriously incandescent in the moonlight, eyes radiant with burning want as they bucked and bit, moaned and screamed. Surely the whole forest heard them but Masha couldn't care, her mind utterly devoted to the man in her arms, touching her, _inside her_.

“Yehn'a, oh Yehn'a!” Her own words rang in her ears, she was so overcome by the tides of pleasure that they spilled free without thought. A glance down found a smirk on his lips, before he too succumbed and let her name sing out in a feral growl. Her heart danced at the sound of his _want_ , fingers and shins tightening on his back to answer that yearning with her own.

“Masha!” he panted. “Ah, ah, oh Masha I-!”

She nodded furiously, breathing heavily on his ear in between frantic kisses. Her own climax welled up as swift and unstoppable as the very wind, each hard deep thrust only cementing it. “Yehn'a, please, oh _Menphina_!” Fingers and toes both clenched but Yehn'a gave in first with a deep moan right on her throat, the first shot of his seed hot and thick on her walls. The second was the straw that broke her, Masha's world melting into a sea of absolute pleasure as her own orgasmic cry echoed in her ears with his groans and pants a beat beneath it. They clung to one another, the grass and dirt on her back the only other sensation she knew as they both soared atop their climaxes. It was _perfection_ , the closest she could imagine to the divine, his cock snug inside her, his seed and her nectar joined just as they were. Yehn'a pressed hot fierce kisses to her neck and jaw in his throes, cockiness and teasing burned away by the flame of passion to leave just his raw tender love behind for a time. How she relished it, basked in it, clutching him tight as she possibly could like she could hold him forever and never have to let go. It seemed possible in the moment, giddy as she was.

But all too soon Masha crashed back down and cold reality intruded with the wind its herald. An icy breeze nipped her skin all over and roused the ache in her back from rough lovemaking atop uneven ground. Yehn'a lay spent atop her, his mouth finally at rest as he nuzzled his head in the crook of her neck, his member softened inside her but sealing his seed within her flower. He seemed almost peaceful for once, a contented little grin on his lips, eyes lidded with his only movements being flicks of his ears and his tail tenderly stroking at her thigh.

“Yehn'a,” she breathed, throat raw from crying his name.

“Mmmm?” he hummed, reluctantly opening his eyes and looking up at her.

“Up,” Masha sighed.

He sighed right back. “Already? And here I thought I might mean more to you than a quick tumble.” There was no steel to his words, a laugh blunting any sting they might have had.

“You do, but not enough that I'll freeze to death for you.”

“As though I wouldn't keep you warm,” Yehn'a purred, kissing her cheek as he slowly rose and stretched. He slipped out of her and Masha felt their pooled release spill freely, running down to stain the mud that had served as their bed. She wondered a moment if this time they would bear fruit, or if she was already with child but just not showing. There were potions and herbs that could keep a womb barren, of course, but that wasn't her way. If she and Yehn'a laid together under Menphina's gaze, then it was for Menphina to decide whether he would give her a kit or not.

“Thank you.” He stopped from where he had been gathering scattered clothes, looking at her with an odd little smile.

“Surely it's the mortal man who thanks the goddess for deigning to notice him,” the orange-eyed man laughed. If he felt the cold he didn't show it, shamelessly nude, muscles and scars alike all bare to her eyes still while she wrapped her clothes around herself as best she could to fend off the wind.

“If you think flattery will earn you another round tonight, you're mistaken,” Masha sighed as she rose on shaky legs, wincing at her soreness. But she could walk, if clumsily, and she could hunt. “I still have a family to provide for and a new mouth to feed.”

“Rhel'to's wildwood,” Yehn'a crooned from across the glade, tossing her the rag with which he had cleaned himself. She accepted it as best she could, brushing the stains from her slit in quick strokes, eager to dress and escape the elements. “If I didn't know you better, Masha, I'd think you jealous.”

Masha shot him a withering glare a moment, but he had the truth of it and so her poisonous look withered itself. “Mayhap,” she muttered. “I worry for him, but also...” Fangs bit at her lip as she finished cleaning and tossed his rag back, struggling to voice her thoughts even to him. But then, never deny what you are, that was their way wasn't it? How many friends had they seen _try_ that, try to deny their heritage and go make peace with Gridania, only to inevitably end up either broken by the endless grind to prove their worth or else lured into the Coeurlclaw King's clutches?

Just that thought put her on edge with fingers tightening like claws themselves.

“You wonder, mayhap,” Yehn'a said, “why they can accept him laying with a wildwood, yet deny you and I?”

Masha forced herself to nod, any words she could muster acid in her mouth.

Yehn'a sighed and chuckled. “Well, dear Rhel'to is a kitten and I a vicious old tomcat, for a first. Far too much trouble for them to want.” He gestured across his many scars. “I'm sure they'd like you to find a mate who doesn't tussle with everything and everyone who looks at him the wrong way.”

“If you did that, I'd gladly leave you for the wolves,” Masha hissed playfully. “I'd like to believe you have at least _some_ sense, Yehn'a.”

The iron-furred keeper crept across the glade to her side, still nude, kneeling to wrap his arms around her. Masha let him hold her close, feeling his lips on her ear and purring in delight at his warmth, his _touch_. “Far be it from me to tell the divine how to act, but Rhel'to is a man, Masha. Not a kit to be sheltered with hand held every step of his life. If he finds happiness with this woman then congratulations to him, and if she does break his heart then that was Menphina's will.”

Masha glanced at him with one green eye. “I don't understand how they can accept _her_ but deny you. After all that her kind have done against ours. How _you_ can accept her.”

Another chuckle. “I hate Gridania as much as you, but she isn't of Gridania, is she? Ishgard, you said. I've no doubt it's a place with its own problems, but Ishgard's given you and I no reason to hate it or any of its sons and daughters.”

Another forced nod. Masha stared at herself in her mind's eyes, reflecting on her acts, her thoughts. Had she been too quick to scorn Reinette? If even Yehn'a disagreed-

She shrugged him off, rising to her feet and beginning to pull her clothes on. “I have to hunt.”

“I hope your hunt doesn't steal you away for a moon this time,” he laughed behind her. Cloth rustled as he too dressed. “Being denied your company is enough to drive a man mad.”

Masha glanced back as she pulled her spear from the earth. “Oh, the temptation to let you go mad,” she sighed. “I'll try, Yehn'a.” Yearning tugged at her as she stared at him, those bright orange eyes, the crimson claws painted across his face, the warmth in his gaze when it rested on her. Hard as she found it to believe ofttimes, he _loved_ her, though only Menphina knew why. “I'll try.”

“I'll be waiting,” he said gently, just louder than the breeze. “Come by once you've caught your quarry, Masha. I promised to share my hunt with you as well as everything else, didn't I?”

“You did,” she said, a genuine smile creeping onto her lips to be met with his smirk. “Fare well, Yehn'a. I...” The words caught in her throat, still so hard to confess. _Too_ hard, mother and grandmother glaring in her mind. But Yehn'a nodded and smiled wider. “Be safe,” she said at last, stealing into the trees.

She would have plenty of time to turn her thoughts over while she hunted, at least. And the thought she'd see him again before the day stole them both to bed was a flame in her heart, warmth and light amid the shaded glades.

R&R

Reinette stirred to Rhel'to's arms around her, both of them buried in furs. They lay in one of the side rooms for at last sleep's call had grown too strong for them, the lanterns dimmed to little pinpricks of light to let them rest. Gloom surrounded them, the furs and his body on hers keeping the night's icy bite from her skin. Rhel'to slumbered still, lips to her neck with his breath bathing her nape in a sensual warmth.

Pinpricks of light shone in the gloom, faint steps coming to her ears. She looked up from the cocoon of furs to see a silhouette in the low light coming into the room, a tail coiling behind the miqo'te.

“Masha?” she murmured groggily.

The keeper froze and her eyes fell on Reinette. Slowly she crouched down, their faces close in the dark. “I'm surprised you're awake,” Masha said, an edge of ice to her tone. But it was softer than before, calmer by far.

“Why are you in here?” Reinette murmured.

“Mother insisted I apologize for earlier.”

An icy anger hardened Reinette's expression before she could quell it, sure that the keeper's eyes grew colder in answer. “I love your brother, Masha. And whatever wrongs you've suffered, I have nothing against you or your family.”

There was a pregnant pause as Masha knelt, her eyes fixed on Reinette's face before venturing over her head to find Rhel'to nestled against her. The elezen dared to imagine a smile turning the keeper's lips in the gloom, unsure whether it was her imagination. “A lifetime of hating and fearing wildwoods doesn't die easy.”

“A lifetime of hating Ishgard doesn't either,” Reinette replied. “Yet the dragons are trying.”

Masha's fangs gleamed in the light. “Don't try to pretend it's the same. Gridania brands us keepers poachers and villains, and when we try to earn their respect we might as well try to move a mountain with a finger. Scorned at every turn, abused by corrupt Wood Wailers until we _break_. I've seen it with my own eyes, Reinette.” She breathed heavily, eyes burning now.

“The dragons gave Ishgard a chance,” she replied after a moment. “Give _me_ a chance, Masha. I swear to you, by Halone, by Menphina, that I _love_ Rhel'to.” She fidgeted nervously, the huntress's gaze cold as a blizzard on her face. But Rhel'to's warmth at her back gave her strength. “Do you see the scar on my face?” Masha nodded uncertainly. “My mother did that to me, the day she found out about your brother and I. I lost everything I knew, but... I had him. And he had me.”

Masha scoffed, but the fierce glint in her eyes faded. “Why do they all accept you so easily?” she murmured. “Why does my brother love you so fiercely?”

Reinette shook her head. “I can't answer either of those questions, Masha. All I know is that your brother brings me the greatest happiness I've ever known.”

“And do you make him happy?”

She nodded. “I think I do. When I hold him and he holds me. When we travel together, when we visit new places together.” She paused, looking back at Rhel'to then at Masha again. “My sister cast me aside, disowned me for daring to embrace my feelings for Rhel'to. If I can spare him the same, I want to.”

Masha bowed her head, eyes closing a moment. “If you truly do make him happy, Reinette, if you bring him joy... then I shan't stand in your way.” A pregnant pause, so long that Reinette almost spoke before Masha continued. “I care about him. I always have, because he always seemed so uncertain and unsuited. But I let my hatred speak for me and I wronged you, and for that I apologize, sincerely.” Another pause. “So long as you bring him happiness, then that's all I should have cared about.”

Reinette gave a solemn smile. “Thank you, Masha.”

A shake of her head. “Bring him joy. Keep loving him. That's all the thanks I deserve from you, Reinette.” With that curt answer, Masha was gone, padding near-silently from the room and leaving Reinette with confused thoughts to keep her awake.

Rhel'to stirred a short while later, murmuring into her nape. “Love?”

“I'm here,” she said. “I love you.”

“I thought I heard something,” he whispered, brushing a kiss into her hair.

“Masha wanted to talk.” She felt him tense. “She apologized for before, and gave a blessing of sorts.”

“Thank Menphina.” He kissed her again. “I love you, Reinette. Always.”

“Always,” she breathed back, and felt him snuggle back to sleep against her. Her own followed, his warmth and love a balm for her ills, driving worries and doubts from her mind to be replaced by his unconditional adoration. A new warmth joined it, the smiles of his family as they told their tale, Masha's whispered blessing. For the first time since the day her mother had scarred her face and driven her out, Reinette dared to feel as though she had _family_.

When she slipped into dreams, that thought was a warm ember in her heart matched only by the arms around her.


End file.
